A Victoria Christmas Party Is A Fun Change Of Pace For The Festive Season

by Donna West

When you are celebrating Christmas with your family and friends, you should know that the Victorians are the people to thank for many of the joyful festivities and customs we follow. They were the first to promote the idea of gift giving and charity to the poor as being important parts of the holiday. If you are in need of a Christmas party theme, then perhaps you should step back in time and have one of the Victorian style Christmas parties. Theirs was a family celebration with the primary focus being on the children and Christ. They were the originators of attending a church service, having a big family dinner and visiting with friends.


For Victorian decorating holiday ideas, consider using plenty of cedar, greenery, ivy, berries and mistletoe, etc. The Victorian parlor basically equates to our modern living or family rooms and they were always lavishly decorated with garlands of cranberries and popcorn, paper chains, lace and glass ornaments, angels and snowflakes.

If you have a fireplace, then cover the mantel with boughs of greenery, and include pineapples, oranges, pomegranates, berries and apples together in clusters. Get several of the larger pillar candles of varying heights and group them with like colors, wrap some greenery around them and small white lights concentrating around the candles to give them a light glow. The Victorian Christmas parties usually included decorating the staircase as well with lavish displays of garland and wide burgundy colored ribbon and bows as a way to complete the Christmas party decorations.

The Victorian women loved the gilded look so you might want to get some gold spray paint and paint some pine cones, nuts, leaves and even some ornaments in order to keep with their Christmas party theme. They used lots of burgundy ribbon to make big bows for the tree and other locations, such as mirrors. The Victorian look can not be overdone. If you need a Christmas party game from the Victorian era, then you should know that they loved parlor games, such as blowing a ball of wool on a table; the object being to keep the ball from falling off the table near you, and the longer the game goes the more comical it gets, which they truly loved.

Of course it wouldn't be complete without a Christmas meal authentic to the Victorian era; for this you will need to include food such as pheasant, venison or roast goose. Sugarplums, made with butter, cream, sugar, candied cherries, dates, prunes and vanilla were a favorite at Victorian Christmas parties. They were also partial to oysters and mincemeat with mulled wine, and for dessert fruit and plum pudding would finish up the feast. - 39969

About the Author:

Donna writes for the Holidays and Occasions site. You may be interested in her latest posts on Enjoying a Stress Free Christmas and Finding a Christmas Sale Online.